Unforgivable Things (Independent)

Shadwick Wilde

Kevin Gibson

Shadwick Wilde is either going to fully love or really hate this reference, but it’s difficult not to think about Bob Dylan when listening to “Motorcycle Song,” the opening track to Wilde’s latest album, Unforgivable Things.

It isn’t that he sounds so much like Dylan, but there’s an edge in his delivery that fills up the speakers, plus song titles like “Destitution Road” which just seem iconic in a way of which Mr. Dylan would surely approve. Then again, the comparison is probably just the easiest one to make. Let’s just sum it up by saying that Wilde turns some really nice phrases in the midst of his songs about love and motion and hard times and whiskey.

“Sometimes these streets will swallow you whole,” he sings in “Driving,” a song that really kind of sums of life by suggesting that sometimes all you can really do is just go for a drive and forget about it all.

“Wearing Thin” is a great example of Wilde’s rawness in his songwriting. “You’re always on the other line when life calls” isn’t a line that’s going to make him famous, but, well, you really just can’t not know what the guy’s talking about. The tune carries a lovely melody and moves along on a subtly beautiful acoustic guitar track, and he basically just tells the world about how he’s just worn the hell out.

The aforementioned “Destitution Road” is another standout with its weeping fiddle and Wilde’s continued expression of isolation and weariness.

The critique here is that the album does get bogged down a bit in the melancholy and the slow tempos. “This Old Guitar” steps up near the end of the album to change things up a bit with a slightly tongue-in-cheek approach: “I ain’t never gonna pay no bills with this old guitar.”

All in all, those is a solid effort, and one worth checking into. You can do so at myspace.com/shadwickwilde.